In recent years, the art has sought to provide a silver halide color photographic material which can provide a high quality image and excellent color image preservability and which is capable of being rapidly processed.
In the development processing of silver halide photographic materials, continuous processing is typically carried out with an automatic developing machine which is located at the respective labs. In such labs, it is desired that the light-sensitive materials be processed are returned to the clients within the same day, often within one hour from receipt, and therefore, the need for a rapid processing has been growing.
Further, shortening of the processing time leads to the improvement in a production efficiency and enables a cost reduction. This has further accentuated the need for rapid processing.
Under such the circumstances, it is known that the shape, size and composition of the silver halide grains contained in a silver halide emulsion used for a light-sensitive material affect a developing speed and others to a large extent. It is further understood that the halogen composition has a large influence and, particularly, the use of high chloride silver halide allows a markedly high developing speed.
From the viewpoint of an environmental protection and the reduction in the load of the preparation work of a developing solution, the use of a color developing solution which is free of benzyl alcohol is desired. Further, the exclusion of sulfite used as an anti-oxidation agent for a developing agent in the color developing solution is also desired because the sulfite competitively reacts with an oxidation product of the color developing agent and a coupler to lower image density which changes the amount of sulfite, which is further accompanied by a change in color dye density.
Under the above background, there has been recently employed a method in which high chloride silver halide is used in the field of a color paper and a processing is carried out with a color developing solution containing substantially no benzyl alcohol and sulfite.
Meanwhile, in terms of image quality and color image preservability, a big problem resides in the use of a 5-pyrazolon series coupler which has so far been used has a subabsorption that is not preferred in terms of a color reproduction in the vicinity of 430 nm in the dye formed therewith, which results in yellow formation (i.e., Y-stain) at a non-developed portion when stored in the bright and dark rooms.
One solution involves the use of the magenta coupler of pyrazolotriazoles described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,725,067, JP-A-59-162548 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an unexamined published Japanese patent application) and JP-A-59-171956, and Research Disclosures Nos. 24220, 24230 and 24531. The dyes formed from these couplers have a very small sub-absorption in the vicinity of 430 nm and a very little generation of Y-stain by light, heat and humidity. Accordingly, they have been put to a practical use.
Meanwhile, another problem resides in that the use of high chloride silver halide is liable to cause color mixing. One of the causes therefor is believed to be that, because the silver developing speed is markedly accelerated, the degree at which the oxidation product formed by a silver development can not completely react with the coupler contained in the same layer and, thus, diffuses to the other layers is increased. The efficiency in the reaction of an anti-color mixing agent contained in an anti-color mixing layer with the oxidation product of a developing agent is lowered for the same reasons. Further, this phenomenon is promoted when a color developing solution which contains no above benzyl alcohol and sulfite is used.
As one solution to this problem, the amount of anti-color mixing agent which is contained in the anti-color mixing layer provided between the emulsion layers and reacts with the oxidation product of a developing agent is increased up to the amount sufficient to prevent a color mixing. In this case, the amount of the anti-color mixing agent left unreacted after a development processing is increased as well.
It has been found that the use of a pyrazolotriazole series magenta coupler under a rapid processing conditions employing high chloride silver halide emulsions deteriorates the light fastness of a formed dye under high humidity conditions to a large extent when compared with that deterioration under low humidity conditions. Where a conventional pyrazolone series magenta coupler is used, this humidity dependency relating to light fastness has not substantially been observed.
The investigation of this problem has resulted in determining that the anti-color mixing agent is related to the cause for the deterioration of a light fastness under high humidity conditions.